Russia-Ukraine war: Volodimir Zelensky detaches himself from “traitors” and defends himself with his hard core

Ukraine’s President Volodimir Zelensky retains a strong core of key political figures and proven loyalty nearly five months after the Russian invasion of his country began and in the midst of a purge of senior officials. suspected of “treason”.

The Ukrainian leader has focused from the beginning of the offensive both on the coordination of the country’s defense and in the area of ​​communication, an area in which he moves at ease due to his acting career.

Although he is actively at the forefront of all important decisions, the president has relied on a number of high-level figures from his inner circle, whose influence is not always tied to clearly defined competences.

the faithfuls

In this sort of “Who’s Who”, the Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal, plays the role of a loyal official with no aspirations to compete with the president, despite the broad powers derived from his position.

Indeed, the second strongman in the country is the head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak, who maintains a close relationship of trust with Zelensky, despite being formally only his secretary.

In a recent interview, Yermak, who also worked as a lawyer and film producer, called himself the “manager of the president”.

From this position, he oversees the implementation of each of the leader’s decisions and examines the results of any negotiations on the future of Ukrainethe reconstruction of the country and the effects of sanctions against Russia.

The next key figure is David Arakhamia, head of the party’s parliamentary group. Zelensky’s “Servant of the People”, as analyzed by Roman Romaniuk and Roman Kravets for Ukrainska Pravda.

Zelensky’s control over his deputies is undisputed, while Arakhamia focuses on complementary activities, including contacts with other political groups.

Former journalist Mykhailo Podoliak, for his part, was part of the negotiating delegations with Russia in Minsk and Istanbul.

It is also responsible for communicating the situation at the front, disseminating data on enemy victims and negotiating prisoner exchanges.

His work has drawn harsh criticism from the head of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, who believes that some of these powers correspond to his department.

Prior to the invasion, Danilov and the Council played an important role in the decision-making process, such as sanctions against pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. But in the meantime Danilov has lost some of his public presence.

On the contrary, the invasion raised the profile of the charismatic military commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyiwho is widely regarded as competent and freed from the old canons of former Soviet-style generals.

97% of Ukrainians trust their army, even though rumors of possible tensions between the president and the military high command have crept into the Ukrainian press. Zaluzhnyi remained low-key and focused on his duties.

Zelensky’s other close collaborators are his defense and foreign ministers, Olexiy Reznikov and Dmitro Kuleba.

The latter is, on an external scale, the second “face” of Ukraineafter the president, for his omnipresence in all multilateral or bilateral meetings, as well as in action on social networks.

It has an important role to play in trying to give Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion the highest international profile.

Reznikov and Kuleba helped improve the president’s image in the face of those who doubted the former comedian’s ability to lead the country.

Purge

While all of these figures represent hard core and loyalty to the leader, Ukraine has lived through these days some sort of purge in their security services, including espionage.

First, Ivan Bakanov, head of the security services and childhood friend of the president, was fired. Almost in parallel, the Attorney General, Iryna Venedíktova, fell as Zelensky ordered a thorough review of all intelligencewhich has accelerated a long sequence of layoffs on a regional or local scale.

In the Ukrainian media this development correlates with Yermak’s growing influence over Zelensky’s past friends from his show business career.

Presumably, these changes will not be the last. Several political analysts suggest that Prime Minister Shmyhal’s job may be up for grabs.

On the other hand, there are no renovations that affect the president’s hard core. Most Ukrainians continue to have a good opinion of Zelensky’s performance, with 85% trusting the president, according to a late-June poll by the International Institute of Sociology in Kyiv.

Source: EFE

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